Freecycle Milton Keynes & Reuse Guide
Local reuse options in and around Milton Keynes
This guide is about Milton Keynes Freecycle and other great ways to donate or find nice things for free in and around the Milton Keynes area. Do you want to know how to use Freecycle Milton Keynes? How to give away or get hold of free, good quality pre-loved items? Read on!
1) Milton Keynes Freecycle
Freecycle is a platform where members give and receive pre-loved items free of charge. Freecycle Milton Keynes is a town group within this platform that connects members in the same area. Milton Keynes Freecycle group had over 25,000 members at last count and is a very active platform.
With Freecycle, it can be a little confusing understanding who is who as lots of organisations have picked up the term 'freecycle' over the years. All you need to know is that the names Freecycle.org, or The Freecycle Network, refer to this platform in particular - and that it works and is free!
To list or look for an item in Milton Keynes, go to the Milton Keynes Freecycle group page and sign up. Creating an account is free and you can sign up using your Facebook profile if preferred. Now you can search for your town and join one or more groups depending on your location. To create a listing about something you're giving away, just provide a photograph and description, as well as any preferences about collection and location. Equally, you can create a Wanted listing about something you're searching for. Be careful not to post too many of these - the site bans people posting an excess of Wanted ads.
Here are the main some rules you should be aware of before you start posting:
- Leave out politics, spam or money
- No swaps or trading
- Don't post personal ads (i.e. yourself or another person - use a dating site instead!)
- Nothing illegal (drugs etc)
- No animals
2) Trashnothing Milton Keynes
Confusingly this reuse platform refers to itself as Milton Keynes Freecycle! It operates from the trashnothing.com site and is essentially a place where listings from different freecycling or reuse sites appear all together. The local Milton Keynes group has over 10,000 members.
Joining and using Trashnothing Milton Keynes is a very similar process to Freecycle.
3) LoveJunk
LoveJunk is an online marketplace where you can give away/ dispose of unwanted larger items (eg. sofa, appliance, exercise equipment, bricks) and also pick up pre-loved items for free.
To give something away, go to the home page and click the 'Find A Collector'. Then follow the instructions to create a free listing. LoveJunk shows your item to nearby reusers and also licensed waste collectors. They then contact you through the site to take it away. Reusers will do so free of charge. Waste collectors will charge a fee. You can choose which option you wish to use. Obviously a free collection is great. But sometimes, even though you love the item, noone else seems to want to reuse it. LoveJunk is a great way of solving that blurry line!
To be able to pick up free stuff through LoveJunk, you'll need to register as a reuser on the site. Reusers are called JunkLovers. Once you're set up you will be able to adjust the settings in the app to show items in and around Milton Keynes. Anything you fancy, just ping the owner and collect for free.
4) Freegle Milton Keynes
Freegle is another similar UK-wide reuse organisation, officially called ilovefreegle.org. You can find the Milton Keynes Freegle group and all its current listings here.
To list or contact any members, you can sign up for free (with your Facebook or Google account if preferred). Upon signing up, the site will tell you that you'll receive an email every time something new is posted. If you don't like a full mailbox, make sure you go and edit your preferences in settings! It is perhaps not as user-friendly as other sites, but another great free option to find pre-loved items.
5) Gumtree Milton Keynes Freebies section
You've likely heard of Gumtree before: a classified ads and community site (NOT a charity!) offering all manner of items and services. Normally people buy and sell things on this platform, but it also has a 'freebies' section where you can apply filters and just see ads in Milton Keynes. Here, members post items that they're giving away for free.
It is free of charge to sign up and you must have an account before you can contact any other members or make your own listing. It is free to create a 'basic' listing. You can pay various levels of extra charges to boost the visibility of your items if preferred. It doesn't cost members to respond to an advert, even if it has been boosted.
Gumtree makes a few recommendations when using the site for maximum potential to find what you're looking for:
- Narrow your search but not TOO specifically e.g. instead of 'newborn baby clothes' start with 'baby clothes'
- Search for the word 'free' next to the item you're looking for, as some listers post their items outside of the Freebies section
6) Re-Use Community Project at Kiln Farm
The Re-Use community project is a charitable organisation in Milton Keynes that restores and resells donated second-hand items. Re-Use works differently to the platforms mentioned above: items are free to donate, are restored by volunteers and then sold in the community shop. They collect donations for free but charge a £20 delivery fee (only within Milton Keynes, Bedford and Northampton address areas!). There is also the option to drop off your items at the warehouse but make sure to make an appointment first.
Re-Use Milton Keynes has a few requirements for donated items:
- They should be clean, free from rips, tears and stains
- Generally suitable for reuse
- All soft furnishings (such as sofas) must have appropriate labels attached (e.g. fire labels)
You can find full details about what you can and cannot donate, collection and more, here.
The Re-Use Community Project is open 6 days a week from its warehouse at Kiln Farm. You can go and shop in person for pre-loved items at much more affordable prices. There are discounts for low-income families, too. Their address is 16 Burners Ln, Kiln Farm, Milton Keynes MK11 3HB.
Opening hours: Tuesday - Sunday 10:00 - 16:00 (closed on Mondays)
Telephone: 01908 261010
Email address: [email protected]
If you're a long-term resident of Milton Keynes, you're probably already familiar with this popular little store! Here's a recent article discussing the community's effort to salvage it in the wake of recent rent hikes.
